Wow I din know that many guys would go through this "depression phase" when they go into NS, cos my bro seems pretty fine when he enlisted. I think having no gf makes a difference... hahaha!
Anw he's in OCS now, just came back from 3 weeks of Thailand training, before that he went for 3 weeks of Brunei training... and he still seems fine, no signs of depression.
So all the best to you TS, you will adjust to it soon! I can vividly remember my bro enlisting a year ago, and now it's a year later already!
yah right... weekend too short right... and no time to post on forum too right...
You are in BMT you are suppose to be under a certain level of depression.Just do you thing and stop whining.
i was fine leh.
Originally posted by CannyOng:Be strong and start to really act like a man. So many people go thru NS and they make it out and enjoying their life. Doing whatever they want. Do u want to be like them?
U can do it too. U mention u have gf? Do her proud. Show to her u can do it too. Its not 10 years or 20 years. Just BMT of 3months and if u r lucky. Will be posted to units which has more laxing working time.
This is just a first hurdle in yr life. I bet there are more tough one coming ahead. If u have past this one. How are u going to clear the others?
I know you're trying to help, but I totally disagree with you.
Some of us do not really need NS. The fact that we have to do it, doesn't mean we are happy with it. Doing NS doesn't make girlfriends proud. In fact, if they are not proud, and further more unhappy, then there will be no girlfriend.
Also, this is a hurdle which some of us deem totally irrelevant and unncessary. We do not have to pass this to deal with life.
first of all, TS should IGNORE everyone who says crap like "BE A MAN, NS 2 yrs only".
it's easy for them to say, but for some people, NS is a very difficult period of time.
you could probably ask him to call SAF counselling hotline, but will it work? even if it's a real case, if your fellow mates know you call hotline, they'll see you as chao-keng.
like what above poster says, most of us DON'T EVEN need NS.
not sure about you guys, but the most saddest part in my life was the 2 yrs i serve in NS.
not school, not anything, but NS.
let's face it like a real man: NS S***S.
NS is only for people who love PAP or SAF, for punks and gangsters, who need 2 years of hard training to make them behave.
i've some tips for people like TS:
1) first, and most important: DO NOT COUNTDOWN to your ORD date. instead, live it day by day. This was what I did back then and it works a lot better. If I had instead count down to my ORD date, i probably would be in "Hougang chalet" now.
this tactic was later further confirmed by a barber i know. his advice is "when in NS, don't count down to ORD date or you'll go crazy. Live it day by day and before you know it, ORD has come". Back then, I didn't even want to think about ORD date.
for your case, what you should do is to LOOK FORWARD to your next weekend, not ORD date. So, if today is Wed, tell yourself, 2 more days and Sat comes!!!!!
yes, you need to book-in on Sun night, but when that happens, look forward to the next weekend. Best trick i can teach you. Sat should be your motivation, your motivator.
2) if you tell yourself that if minus the weekends, holidays, and your off-entitlement and leave entitlement, you'll be serving way less than 2 yrs of NS. Furthermore, people in the past serve 2.5 yrs, not 2 yrs.
3) try to force yourself to be engaged in whatever your jobscope is and do it well.
at first i hate it, but as time goes by, i become proficient at my job scope and was able to get engrossed in it. Result? time passes faster.
4) during Sat and Sun, hang out and maximize your time on family and friends.
use the computer for 2 hours at most to catch up with technology. if possible, make it a point to eat dinner with your family / gf on Sat and Sun. They're the ones who can comfort you most, not friends. Friends only provide pleasure and fun but no real emotional comfort, not as much as families.
5) fifth, is that when you become lao-jiao, life will be a lot easier.
6) remind yourself that some fools out there still have to serve 3 years of DB and after that, serve another 2 yrs of NS liability. you should feel better.
7) don't chao-keng too obviously or people will make life hell for you (like ask you come back on CNY to do guard duties).
if you're like 1.5 years into the army liao and try to keng, at least not so bad cos' u lao-jiao.
8) it's true that BMT is the toughest; after posted to units, will be a lot laxer.
for all you know, you may even get posted to everyday-sign-out unit.
btw, some units, even if it's those stay-in units, are so slack that the people inside are slacking around in their bunk 70% - 80% of the time.
9) doing NS will not make your gf proud, like what above guy says. Unless the guy is some 2LT. even then, most local girls don't even care. NSF is one of the lowest job in SG, unlike in other countries where girls are proud of their soldiers (USA, for e.g).
Hello, let me share my experience..
I was abit depressed also, when i was in NS , about 6 years ago. I went to combat unit, and the problem was below
Authoritharian lifestyle - commanders and all the stupid ENcik has so many rules. Break any rules, fine... Guard duties or cannot book out. For a young chap, such things are very scary and demoralising.
Live firing - maybe its me, i was always paranoid of misfiring, cross firing, whether its shooting others asses or getting mine shot.
Forest training, guarding Singapore key installations, alert manning, NDP work, daily routines are all i dun like generally speaking. sucks big times.
There are times when i feel happy and okay with all these too. For most people, i think we have a optimistic part where we just accept and adapt to things in the army. Overall, I think army is BIG Thumbs down for all its activities. Its good when you have ORD, but bad when you are still SERVING.
Good luck to you. My advice is to strengthen your body if you are in combat side so that your body can take all those work much easier. The weaker and fatter you are, the more tedious each shit work will becomes..
Basically, BMT is obessive compulsive rules behavior camp. ANything also rule rule rule.
Go unit, first year also rules rules rules plus punishments if target is not met. also very lousy. Only until you finish your important events in army assessment stuff, plus your sergents and officers know you better on personal terms then will their eyes will start to close one eye.
half a year before ORD usually is the more heaven period because of laxed rules and constant wet dreams of leaving army.
make the best out of these 2 years bah...
(come on after that u still got 10 cycles to complete!!)
weak.. hopefully NS make you into a man before you die a boy outta your so-called depression and self despair....
the type that everyone went through.